In a sense, Los Angeles-based jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington had it all. At just 19, he began touring with Snoop Dogg, which led to gigs backing up greats like the “Queen of Funk” Chaka Khan and jazz fusion bassist Stanley Clarke. More recently, his resume landed him a credit on Kendrick Lamar’s…
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The San Jose chapter of nation-wide weekly party Motown on Mondays announced its special guests for tonight’s edition of the event, and the names are two of the largest yet to rock the downtown staple—DJ Z-Trip and Skratch Bastid. In a performance that will feature two sets of turntables, the two performers…
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It’s fair to say that Lyrics Born (a.k.a. Tsutomu “Tom” Shimura) felt the cultural void when he left Berkeley for UC Davis in the early 1990s. A hip-hop head stranded in a rural college town, he made the most of his time by going on late night walks through campus with nothing but…
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Being a small business owner in a big city isn’t easy. Just ask Monisha Murray, owner of the San Jose-based Black & Brown clothing boutique; she knows. “It takes a lot out of you,” Murray says, recalling Black & Brown’s early days—when the store was located on West San Carlos Street. Back…
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Sometimes things just click. And sometimes it takes a while. “I wrote a song back in 2000,” Bronx-born singer and songwriter Vic Ruggiero says. “I’m telling you—I was on stage last year and it was the first time I ever understood one of the lyrics I wrote.”
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Prince Sole may have already hit radio waves with two songs from his latest mixtape, but he hasn’t gone national yet. Just don’t tell that to a very young fan of his. “It’s funny—every time my girl’s daughter hears a Drake record on the radio, she thinks it’s me,” Sole jokes while…
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Delivering a vulnerable vocal performance that humanizes the song’s complicated perspective, Molia sings “Does it matter that she told me everything? Does it matter that you purchased her a ring? All that matters is you.” She echoes the mantra once more, searching for self-acceptance: “all that matters is you.”
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It’s been almost two decades since he and his Living Legends crew helped usher in a new era of DIY in hip-hop, and Scarub is still doing things his own way. In fact, he’s doing everything his own way.
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“It’s 2015. We gotta stay away from the negative shit,” the San Jose-based emcee and producer Cola says on a recent evening, as he plays with the bottle cap of the soda he is drinking. The emerging rapper is referring to the recent Chris Brown shooting at local South Side club Fiesta,…
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It’s 10am on a Saturday morning inside the recently opened RockBar Theater. While the mood is light, it’s clear that this crowd is not composed of morning people. As Barbara Wahli, better known as promoter and manager Barb Rocks, admits at the start of the meeting, she’s running on only five hours…
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